May 27 – First Baptist Church (Gretna, VA) – This was another of Tanya’s opportunities to speak outside of Kenbridge on a Sunday. Gretna is about 1.5 hours from Kenbridge, and the church home of Virginia’s state WMU President, Ann Brown. Ann and Kent are, coincidentally, the parents of Rob Brown, the pastor at Blackstone. Tanya and Abigail enjoyed a beautiful drive and a great time of worship in Gretna (see their website here). We’re thankful for the chance to make a connection there!

On the following Monday, we made the long trip to Huntsville to spend the week with Jon’s parents and grandmother. We had a wonderful week with them, with times of both relaxation and activity. We particularly enjoyed using the Aldridge Creek Greenway, where we walked, ran and let the girls ride their scooters.

May 30 – Crosscreek Baptist (Pelham, AL) – Wednesday of that week, we drove to Birmingham to spend the evening at Crosscreek Baptist. We enjoyed dinner with church folks, then after a few minutes answering questions in the adult Bible Study group, we did the Roma flag craft and scavenger hunt with the children and youth. It was an encouraging time all around, and so good to catch up with the Crosscreek folks before we left!

June 3 – Bagby Memorial Baptist Church (Burkeville, VA) – After getting back from Huntsville late Saturday evening, we got up the next morning and drove to Burkeville for a Sunday morning visit with Bagby Memorial Baptist. We’ve had lots of connections with Bagby over the years – Jon has done a revival there, Tanya has spoken there, and we have been on mission trips with several church members. One of Tanya’s seminary friends, Tim Mull, is their pastor.

We did a drama, sermon and song during worship at Bagby, then answered questions from the adults during the Sunday School hour. The Bagby congregation was very responsive during our presentation, and asked very insightful questions during the Q&A time. We really enjoyed our time at Bagby and our lunch with friends following!